Danny Blankenship
I know that "Tom and Jerry" was maybe at it's classic best back in the days of the 50's and 60's of the MGM Oscar award winning days. Still I wasn't born till 1978 and my early years of exposure to cartoons and morning and evening viewing after school and before I started school was of these episodes from the mid 70's as in the early 80's I was catching the reruns. The team and art work of Hanna-Barbera made the cartoons a pleasure to view the color was bright and a treat to view as a kid. And really nothing changed as after I watched the MGM episodes too, these new episodes still had the fun chases and adventures of the cat and mouse rival. And many episodes the duo might become best of friends and memorable too was "Spike" the big bulldog and his little son puppy. Such a wonderful cartoon that I sometimes view again in today's world it brings back memories of my childhood as "Tom and Jerry" is the best cartoon ever!
happipuppi13
This incarnation of Tom & Jerry debuted when I was 7 and ran in reruns through the early 1980s. So for me it wasn't gone when it wrapped in 1977. Needless to say i hadn't seen the original MGM's at the time (1975-76) so this was the only Tom and jerry I knew for awhile. So,them being friends in this version was simply how the show was and how they were introduced to me. It had nothing to do with toned down cartoon violence (which I hadn't much of yet). it was just a funny show where sometimes T & J team up to help someone out trouble they're in. Like one show where a baby mammoth has been found and just wants to go home to it's mother. While being pursued by the resident villain who wants to cage it and make a fortune. Similar show where they find a new baby eagle hatching out of a misplaced egg and they try to raise it. Turning their lives upside down. There were shows where Tom & Jerry competed against each-other and "surprise" Tom tries to cheat (like in running a track race). Tom hooks up a motor to his back but then he can't shut it of. He gets loose of it and it chases after him. What also has stuck with me to this day is it's catchy theme song:"Set the dial for awhile have a laugh and smile, it's the Tom and jerry Show!"You'll be skimmed with a grin when you first tune us in, it's the Tom and jerry Show!" (Announcer introduces T & J,music plays)"Lot's of zing,lots to sing. Everything's gonna swing, so get ready here we go-o-o-o!" "Big or tall,short or small...we'll all have a ball, on the Tom - and - Jer-r-ry show!~"Whoever said kids who watched this were wusses,you were wrong. it has nothing to do with non-violence at all.We just liked the show and watched it with all the rest of what Saturday morning in the '70s offered. More simply,we just liked to laugh. 10 stars,because nothing beats a good child-hood memory...that's something no one can change.Oh..and if you want lame Tom & Jerry cartoons,try the ones made in Europe,in the 1960s,they're boring and flat out annoying.
MartinHafer
In the 1970s, a lot of do-gooders pushed to make cartoons non-violent. The thinking was that kids will imitate the toons and become violent themselves. While I applaud the idea of controlling what crap kids watch, cartoony violence doesn't equate to the same violence often seen on TV news, cop shows, or the average film marketed to kids--or watching 5 seconds of "The Jersey Shore". So, the cartoons were the scapegoats of this movement at that time. That is why, in this case, Tom and Jerry are friends and get along most of the time. If they do get upset, the most they'd do is shun the other! THe horror! That's like having a W. C. Fields movie where he is sober and likes kids, a Cowardly Lion who is filled with courage or Donald Duck after an operation and tons of speech therapy!! It just doesn't make sense and the change fundamentally destroys the chemistry and who the characters are. In this case, the show is left insipid and only of value to wussy kids and hippies.
BlackJack_B
While Scooby-Doo is still the crown jewel of the properties of Hanna-Barbera, the one creation that they're probably most proud of is Tom & Jerry. This influential and revolutionary cartoon about the classic "cat chasing the mouse" won several Oscars for Hanna-Barbera and MGM. Without them, there might not be a "Sylvester vs. Tweety", "Wile E. Coyote vs. The Road Runner or Bugs Bunny" and yes, no "Itchy And Scratchy". Yes, all these cartoons are pretty violent, with the use of anvils, rocks, TNT, guns, and even Iron Maidens, but they weren't overblown gory like Matt Groening's twisted parody of Tom And Jerry. When Teletoon in Canada started showing Tom & Jerry, I thought we'd see the theatrical cartoons, but instead we got this made-for-T.V. series. This time, Tom & Jerry are friends, and they are the ones who have to face a common enemy or do a chore for someone. If they have to go head-to-head, it's in sports competitions. Most of the "slapstick violence" is gone, leaving a sterile version of the duo.Still, it's not bad, and I watch it on occasion, but I'd rather see the theatrical versions of this cartoon first. It's better than Tiny Toons at least.